Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan. In strongly worded statements to US and France, Turkey’s foreign ministry spokesman said a US State Department appeal that Turkey ‘go back and read’ the ceasefire resolution was unfounded. Photo: AFP

Istanbul/Paris:Turkey forcefully rejected on Wednesday Western calls to suspend its offensive in northwest Syria, saying the United States misunderstood the extent of a UN ceasefire resolution and accusing France of giving “false information” on the issue.

Ankara has said the United Nations resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire across Syria does not apply to its five-week-old military operation in Afrin against the Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey says is a terrorist group.

In strongly worded statements to two NATO allies, Turkey’s foreign ministry spokesman said a US State Department appeal that Turkey “go back and read” the ceasefire resolution was unfounded, and he also denied that Paris had told Ankara that the truce also applied to its Afrin campaign.

On Monday French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he had told Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan that the UN demand “applied to all of Syria, including Afrin, and should be implemented everywhere and by all without any delay”.

“Our reaction regarding the error of giving false information to the public was conveyed to French authorities,” Aksoy said.

UN Resolution

The UN Security Council resolution demands all parties “cease hostilities without delay ... for a durable humanitarian pause for at least 30 consecutive days throughout Syria”.

It does not apply to military operations against Islamic State, al Qaeda and groups associated with them or other groups designated as terrorist organisations by the Security Council.

Turkey says the YPG militia which controls Afrin is an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which is deemed a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. The YPG is not designated as a terrorist group by the Security Council.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Tuesday that Turkey should read the ceasefire resolution, to “see what the world... is saying about this”.

Aksoy said the resolution did not specifically mention Afrin, and Turkey’s operation there was “a fight that is carried out against the terrorist organisations that target Turkey’s national security and Syria’s unity”.

Nauert’s statement “is unfounded and it shows that they are not able to understand the focus of the resolution, or they want to distort it”, Aksoy said.

US support for the YPG militia in north Syria has pushed relations between Turkey and the United States to crisis point. Ankara says that after Afrin it will target the Syrian town of Manbij, where YPG and US forces are deployed together. Reuters.